The Inventors are well aware of how difficult it can be to loosen stubborn or seized mechanical nuts from a corresponding bolt shank. This is especially true for wheel nuts. Conventional wheel spanners or tyre irons can be inadequate for providing the initial force required to loosen a stubborn nut.
The inventors are aware of slogging spanners which comprise, at one end, a spanner head to engage with a nut and, at the other end, a striking surface or anvil to receive blows from a hammer. A difficulty with use of a slogging spanner is that it sometimes cannot fit onto a nut especially if the nut is recessed in a wheel rim and, upon being struck, it can be flung rapidly from the nut, possibly causing damage or injury.
Sliding hammers are also known in the art for providing a guided and controlled striking action. In fact, U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,739 in an embodiment discloses an assembly comprising the combination of a sliding hammer connected via a crank to a socket spanner which is connectable to a wheel. The crank, in this configuration, functions similarly to a slogging spanner. A drawback of U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,739, in the opinion of the Inventors, is that operating the assembly can be difficult, requiring one hand to actuate the sliding hammer and the other hand both to support the assembly and to urge it against the wheel nut.
The Inventors thus desire an improved assembly for loosening or tightening and optionally torqueing of mechanical nuts (esp. wheel nuts) which overcomes or at least alleviates the above-mentioned drawbacks.